CVA member Joe Stephen writes: On Sunday, Sept. 21, my family visited
a church where they had mass for teens. A group of teens happened to see
my van's bumper sticker that read "Vegetarianism Honors God's Creation.”

They spoke to me and mentioned that the sticker was awesome and they
were vegetarians too. I told them about our group and pointed to the web
site. I also gave each of them handful of our booklets to share with
their friends and they said they would gladly do that and also check out
website.

"Hurt' em! These (expletives) deserve to be hurt. Hurt, I say!"
"Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! Hurt! ... Take out your frustrations on 'em," a
worker yells while beating a pig with a metal rod and encouraging an
undercover investigator to do the same.

One worker tells the investigator that he shoves a rod into the
anuses of pigs. Other acts revealed on footage filmed by two
investigators include a bloody pile of piglets who are still moving
after their heads were slammed onto concrete, piglet castration and tail
amputation without anesthesia, and a pig who had had paint sprayed into
her nostrils and all over her face [see: http://tinyurl.com/3fufnr ].

From June into September, investigators from People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals (PETA) worked at the Iowa breeding facility after a
whistleblower told the organization about conditions there. The
facility, which is a supplier to Hormel Foods, was owned by Natural Pork
Production II LLP until mid-August when it was transferred to MowMar LLP.

Many within the pig industry, including MowMar, quickly condemned the
acts. "These people are sick," said Temple Grandin [
http://www.Grandin.com ].

The Iowa Farm Bureau said its members were “shocked, appalled and
disgusted,” and called for the abusers to be prosecuted to the full
extent of the law [http://tinyurl.com/3qjr2s ].

"This is a wakeup call for the industry,” stated Tom Burkgren,
executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians,
“It is frustrating because of the resources the industry has poured into
education and training.”

Animal agriculture advocate Trent Loos said: “[I]t is easy to pick on
PETA, but in this case, the group did animal agriculture a favor. I have
to wonder, though, why it took the assistance of an organization with a
vegan agenda to stop this ongoing display of disrespect toward animals?”
[ http://tinyurl.com/4dbacn ].

Industry officials also questioned the three months that passed from
the time the video was shot to when it was reported.

MowMar, a “family owned farm operation with over 30 years in the
swine business,” said it provided animal welfare training to the staff
when it took over the farm. It has fired two employees as a result of
the video’s release. PETA requested the immediate termination and
prosecution of any employee who abuses animals, protection for
undercover investigators who go public with the abuse, a ban on all
shocking devices, the installation of cameras in animal housing areas,
annual animal welfare audits –the results of which be made public-- and
a phase-out of sow gestation stalls by 2011.

Representatives of Suidae Animal Health, the veterinary group that
manages the facility, agreed to immediately adopt some of the measures
and are considering others during an internal investigation. PETA is
also seeking the prosecution of 18 people for animal cruelty. The
organization t is using the investigation to pressure Hormel to demand
that its suppliers ensure better treatment of pigs, and to try to get
legislation requiring federal oversight of farmed animal production.

"This isn't about one farm, of course - it's about a culture of
cruelty that exists everyplace we go undercover on a factory farm or
slaughterhouse," said PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich. "...anyone
eating factory-farmed meat is paying to support it."

* The Editorial, "Whatever One Sows," continues the exploration of
life after death begun in a three-part editorial in 2006. In this essay
we focus on the implications of the Empathic Life Review, a powerful and
life-changing element in certain Near-Death Experiences. Those who went
through this experience felt all the consequences of everything they had
done in their lives--to other persons and to animals. They learned that
not only humans but all beings are laced together in oneness.

* One of the NewsNotes tells of two teenagers who cared enough about
the pigs they had been raising to refuse to let their story end in a
slaughterhouse.

* Activist Maru Vigo writes a Letter describing her visit to the Lima
convent where the beloved saint and pioneer Martin de Porres lived.

* A Gem, from the writings of Frederick Douglass, shows that for him
prayer was inseparable from action.

* In My Pilgrimage, reviewer Benjamin Urrutia gives us an update on
his current thought regarding Jesus' probable involvement in the world's
first major civil disobedience action (having to do with sowing and the
power of the weak), as well as the rewards of eating as conscience
dictates.

We always welcome letters, "My Pilgrimage" narratives, and other
submissions.

To read this issue, go to http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/issue47.html

Let us sow compassion, that someday there may be a harvest of liberty
and justice for all beings.